332 LAND-BIKDS. 



IV. PICOIDES. 



A. AECTicus. (^Northern or) Blaclc-backed Hvree-toed 

 Woodpecker. A resident of northern New England, but of 

 accidental occurrence in Massachusetts, in fall or winter.* 



a. About nine inches long. Wings and tail, black and 

 white. Upper parts (and a maxillary line), glossy black. 

 Beneath, white, banded on the sides with black. (J , with a 

 yellow crown-patch. 



h. The nest may be found in forests, chiefly in evergreens. 

 The eggs seem to average about .90 X .75 of an inch ; but two 

 in my collection measure 1.05 X -85. See I, A, h. 



c. The subjects of this biography have been given a name 

 which is no less resounding than their rapping in the forests ; 

 namely : Northern Black-backed Orange-crowned Three-toed 

 Woodpeckers. ™ These birds are extremely rare or accidental 

 in Massachusetts, and in no part of New England are common 

 summer residents, unless far to the northward, where they are 

 resident throughout the year, though more common in winter. 

 I have found the nest among the White Mountains, but I 

 have not often seen the birds. They are common summer res- 

 idents, however, in some parts of the Adirondacks. They in- 

 habit the extensive and thickly timbered forests, frequenting 

 the evergreens rather more than other species (unless the 

 next). They lead an active life, and, like others of their 

 tribe, are restless. They partly examine the trunk, perhaps, 

 of a fine hemlock more than a hundred feet high, and then, 

 as if dissatisfied, fly down to hop about a fallen log. They 

 may occasionally vary this life by fly-catching, and in autumn 

 undoubtedly feed on berries, in spite of the inexhaustible 

 insect-wealth of the forests in which they live. They fly in 

 undulations, but rather rapidly, often screaming as tiiey 

 do so. 



d. Their loud, shrill notes cannot easily be described. 



* A rather common but somewhat occurring at iiregnlar intervals, but not 



local resident of the wilder and more so very rarely, in Maaaachnsetts, and 



heavily timbered portions of northern occasionally visiting Connecticut. — 



New England, whence it sometimes W. B. 



wanders southwards, in antumn and '^o fhis full title has actually ap- 



vinter, into southern New England, peared in print. 



